PM asked to take opposition into confidence

• Ahsan says Nawaz to attend Belt and Road Forum in Beijing along with all chief ministers
• Arif Nizami suggests there should not be any wrangling between different political parties

Stressing the need for transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, analyst and Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami asked Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to take all stakeholders including opposition parties into confidence.

“I will suggest that there should not be any political wrangling between different political parties. If someone has the reservation on the CPEC, the government must address their concerns with an open heart,” he said while addressing a day-long seminar – CPEC: Priorities and Challenges – held here on Wednesday at a local hotel.

Mr Nizami said that there should be a complete consensus and national unity on CPEC, as this multi-billion dollars initiative has emerged as a leading project of regional cooperation, which is paving way for peace, prosperity and development of Pakistan and the region. He also asked the politicians to show maturity on national issues.

He also pointed out budget deficit, saying the government must take care of local investments. In his detailed address, the seasoned journalist said that the media should share reports and analysis based on realities, and not on agenda items.

Addressing the seminar, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the CPEC was a premier and pilot project of the One Belt One Road Initiative, and the upcoming gathering in Beijing would boost the ongoing economic cooperation between the two sides. “Pakistan is an important partner of China in promoting One Belt One Road Initiative,” he told the audience.

In his comprehensive address, Minister Ahsan informed the audience that a major portion of CPEC would be in form of investment from private investors instead of loans. He said that $35 billion out of the initial $46 billion was foreign direct investment (FDI) and not loans. “The rest of the amount is also being given to Pakistan by China at two percent markup for 20-25 years financing,” he said.

He said that it was a major concessional financing that China was extending to Pakistan being a friend and getting such financing from any other country was near impossible. “We are now in a geo-economic orbit,” he said, adding that Pakistan is now in a position to play a role of a bridge between the regions. “We are going to become a hub of a development in our region,” he said.

On the occasion, he also said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit China along with chief ministers of all the provinces, some lawmakers, experts, businessmen and government officials to participate in the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled to be held in Beijing from May 14.

With the completion of the CPEC, the Gwadar seaport would become a jewel of Pakistan, he said. Work on a master plan to make the deep seaport at par with port cities like Singapore and Hong Kong has started, he said, adding that the Gwadar would become an international smart port city. As the gateway to CPEC, it has already started attracting the interest of investors, he said.

About 85 million jobs were up for grabs in China due to the relocation of those industries there that had lost their competitive advantage, he said, and added that CPEC provided Pakistan with an opportunity to have a major share in these jobs. He said that the world’s narrative about Pakistan had completely changed after CPEC dream turning into a reality.

Former federal minister for information Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chinese Consul General Long Ding Bin, Punjab government’s representative Malik Ahmad Khan, journalists Ejazul Haq and Ayaz Khan and Professor Tang Ming Shung of the Peking University were among the speakers.

On the occasion, Professor Tang Ming Shung made his speech in Urdu and spoke at length about the depth and strength of the friendship between Pakistan and China. “Pakistan has played a very important role in the success of China that we see today,” he said. “We will never forget what Pakistan did for us and we will always stand by Pakistan,” he said.

Consul General Long Ding Bin lauded efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying he (the chief minister) has a reputation of being a man who gets things done. Some of the infrastructure projects have been completed a year ahead of their contractual time, he said.

He also said that CPEC was not about how many US dollars or a basket of projects, rather it was about the connection between the two countries and the two people, and their joint growth on the economic front. “We are very glad to see the progress on the CPEC projects,” he said.

Qamar Zaman Kaira took the stage with many grievances and justifications on his cards. “Politics is not something negative. I do politics even when I am in a mosque. That is my job. Doing politics and asking questions on what is being done in the country is my parliamentary right. If I am not given timely and satisfactory answers, it will lead me to distrust the government,” he said in a rather fiery manner.

He said that the entire nation stands behind CPEC but they have questions that the government was obligated to answer instead of brushing them off as controversial or contentious. He said that the power projects under CPEC cannot be said to be concentrated in the Punjab province since the whole country receives energy from the national grid.

“Electricity produced anywhere in the country can reach anywhere else, so it would not be wise to call the power projects to be concentrated in one province,” he told the audience. He drew an analogy of today’s ‘unrest’ with the time when Bengalis of the undivided Pakistan were dissatisfied with the central government because they were not being provided with their rights.

“Language, imbalanced growth, parity and what not, we deprived them (people of then East Pakistan) of so many things until they eventually got ‘independence’ from us, not separation. So it is imperative for the government to answer the legitimate questions instead of brushing them up as propaganda,” he said, and concluded his long list of grievances by reassuring that asking questions is not synonymous to being against CPEC. -Muhsen Ali and Syeda Masooma